Top takeaways from the Seattle Sounders FC home win over St. Louis, April 18th, 2026
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - After a strong showing on Wednesday night in CONCACAF Champions Cup play against Tigres, eliminated from the competition only because of an away goal scored by the Liga MX side, the Seattle Sounders returned to MLS play in strong form. A four-goal victory over St. Louis City SC, who only got on the scoreboard thanks to a Eduard Löwen volley two minutes into stoppage time, Seattle looks strong offensively and is weathering the storm on the defensive end of things without Yeimar Gómez Andrade due to injury and Jackson Ragen out tonight due to rest.
Seattle Sounders FC midfielder and captain Cristian Roldan during the clubs 4-1 victory over St. Louis City SC at Lumen Field on Saturday, April 18th, 2026. (Photos by Jules Junior Anoumou for Circling Seattle Sports)
Cristian Roldan puts the Sounders ahead
University of Washington alumni and Sounders captain Cristian Roldan was massive for the club last season, a workhorse in the midfield and incredibly reliable while other areas of the roster faced injury struggles. If Seattle is going to go deep in the MLS Cup Playoffs this season, the Sounders will need to get the most out of Cristian once again, making a performance like this exciting.
“There a lot of people that sometimes are down on Cristian because there’s a loose pass here or something here that doesn’t go right. That’s the easiest thing in soccer to see, when somebody makes a bad pass. Everybody in the world can see that. What you have to look for when you’re talking about the complete player is all of the intangibles, the little things, the effort, the athleticism, and all the stuff that Cristian possesses that we take for granted sometimes, or maybe some of our fans take for granted. What we discussed with Cristian the other day was, okay, let’s see how we can make a strong case for the summer. And it’s just concentrate, focus on one thing, because you do everything else great. Give yourself a goal. Set yourself a goal. Let’s just go through the entire game without making an errant pass. And tonight, I can’t remember him making an errant pass. I thought he was excellent. He was excellent in not only his goal scoring acumen, because he’s good in the air, but all the work, the leadership, all the stuff he does. I thought he had a great performance.”
Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Albert Rusnák during the clubs 4-1 victory over St. Louis City SC at Lumen Field. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)
Rusnák continues his strong form this week
After his brace against Tigres that included an excellent strike for the third Sounders goal of the night, Seattle midfielder Albert Rusnák put together another strong performance in tonight’s victory. The veteran midfielder had a hand in three of the Sounders’ four goals, scoring his second goal in MLS play this year while recording two assists against St. Louis.
Rusnák’s two assists came on Cristian Roldan’s two goals in the first half, as his crosses to the back post from the corner found Seattle’s captain perfectly both times. It certainly helps that St. Louis decided to leave Cristian all alone at the back post twice; as if the first goal scored 15 minutes before the second hadn’t happened, the ball was well placed for Roldan to take advantage of. Add an 83% passing percentage on the match and a pass into the final third in addition to his three goal contributions, and Albert earned himself an 8.8 grade on FotMob for this match. It would be a bit of a surprise if he isn’t in this week’s MLS Team of the Matchday.
“Albert, to his credit, delivered the ball to the exact spot where the coaches told Cristian to be. Kalani and the guys at the back post were setting the blocks at the back post. So, credit to the coaches, credit to the players to get us started at two to nothing, because we were kind of chasing the ball the first 15 minutes.”
Seattle Sounders FC defenders and goalkeeper Andrew Thomas during the clubs 4-1 victory over St. Louis City SC at Lumen Field on Saturday, April 18th, 2026. (Photos by Jules Junior Anoumou for Circling Seattle Sports)
Seattle’s defense continues to hold it down
Despite missing their two-star centerbacks in Yeimar Gómez Andrade (Out since early March with a hamstring injury) and Jackson Ragen (Regular rest and rotation), the Sounders backline remains strong to begin the 2026 campaign. Tonight’s match saw Antino Lopez get the nod at centerback next to Alex Roldan, and Lopez earned strong praise for his performance in this match from head coach Brian Schmetzer as Seattle held a clean sheet for 90 minutes before the consolation goal, which we’ll talk about shortly. Lopez missed just two of his 55 passing attempts in the match, adding three clearances, two blocked shots, and a tackle to his stat line for this game. He did all of this while only playing a true centerback position for about 30 minutes in this game.
“Tino was the first guy I talked about, because Tino has done nothing but excellent work. It’s not flashy, it’s not a goal, it’s not this. He sacrifices himself to block shots, which a lot of people can’t see or don’t see; he puts himself in a position where the goalkeepers have a better angle to save shots. He does all the little things defensively, very good. And then, yes to your to your question, his passing was excellent. His decision-making on where to pass the ball was excellent. He’s not just pressing Yeimar, but he’s pressing Jackson, too. I mean, the kid played a really, really good game.”
The Sounders really didn’t concede many dangerous opportunities to St. Louis in this match, besides the early attempt in the second minute, as the Seattle defense warded off an opponent that had scored a decent number of goals in their recent contests. The Rave Green defense only conceded one shot on target besides the consolation goal in second-half stoppage time, doing so with a rotated lineup, and that late goal came when Seattle had shifted to a back three that included Cristian Roldan.
Anytime you’re able to see your bench/depth players come into the starting lineup and perform well while you’re waiting for the regular player in that position to return, it’s a good sign for the current situation and down the road.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s comfortable win over St. Louis City SC, the Seattle Sounders remain at home for their next matchup in MLS regular-season play. That next contest comes a week from today, on Saturday, April 25th, against FC Dallas at 7:30 PM PDT at Lumen Field, and will be broadcast live on Apple TV in another early-season Western Conference matchup for the Sounders.
Looking over at the form FC Dallas has shown here in the 2026 season, they’ve lost just one match so far this year, back on March 7th in a 1-0 result to LAFC, earning plenty of points to start the campaign. Dallas has played some good matches so far this year against strong competition, so this will be an interesting match for Seattle at home. Before playing the Sounders on Saturday, FC Dallas will face Minnesota United on Wednesday, April 22nd, so the Texas-based club may make some lineup rotation when they play at Lumen Field.
Through seven matches this season, the Sounders have a 5-1-1 record in MLS play, landing them fourth in a tough Western Conference and five points behind the Vancouver Whitecaps, who sit in the top spot for the Shield. The Sounders have conceded just three goals so far this season and are in strong form, scoring seven goals across their two matches this past week.
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Check out our previous Seattle Sounders FC articles here.
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Check out previous articles with photos by Jules Junior Anoumou here, and his portfolio here.
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